


The Sun is Warm, the Ocean Spray Cool

by StripedSunhat



Series: A Village of One [6]
Category: Girl Genius (Webcomic)
Genre: Dietrich is made of sunshine and teeth, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Gil is determined to be a broody teenager, Klaus ruins things by remote, improper lab safety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 04:28:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17196530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StripedSunhat/pseuds/StripedSunhat
Summary: Icarus might have been given his wings by his father, but when it came time to fly he modeled himself after the birds the wings had come from.Gil's first test flight doesn't go exactly as he'd planned.  He's counting it as a success anyway.





	The Sun is Warm, the Ocean Spray Cool

**Author's Note:**

> Have some Dietrich. He's still here, still trying to get Gil to laugh more. Still not succeeding as much as he'd want but hey, Gil's a teenager, it would be an uphill battle no matter what.

Gil checked the left wing’s support frame for probably the twentieth time this morning. Everything had to go perfectly, which meant everything had to _be_ perfect. Not a single bolt out of place.

First fight. Launching himself into the open air and the boundless expanse of the endless sky and _speed_ – far more than one could ever get with an airship – faster and freer than – Stop. Slow down. This was the first test flight. Make sure the thing actually flies like it’s supposed to. Speed could come later. He carefully ran his hand over every inch of the wing, testing for imperfections.

“Hoy! Leettle Gil!”

Almost like a pavlovian response a smile burst across Gil’s face. He fought it down trying to school his into something more visibly annoyed. “I thought you were going to stop calling me that. I’m not ‘leettle’ anymore.” It was true. Last month he’d hit another growth spurt. He was nearly as tall as father now. Almost.

Dietrich grinned, not fooled in the slightest. “Hyu is still shorter den me,” he said, ruffling Gil’s hair like he always did when he visited.

“That’s not fair. You’re taller than everyone.”

“Ho, so ve es goink by fair now?” Dietrich turned his hair-ruffle into a headlock forcing Gil to have to fight his way out.

“Stop it! Stop!” he cried. He was not laughing, he wasn’t. It was just… irregular breathing as a result of sudden, unexpected exertion. With a grin Dietrich lunged after him. Gil ducked away and Dietrich followed after him. He almost managed to snag Gil’s collar but Gil twisted aside at the last second. He darted under the jäger’s arm, grabbing at the elbow of his uniform and twisting at it in an effort to unbalance him. It didn’t work and Dietrich spun neatly around and lunged again. The resulting fight lasted several minutes and only ended when they crashed into one of Gil’s scrapped wing design models.

“Hyu is getting faster,” Dietrich said, leaning easily against the wall behind him. He wasn’t even breathing hard. Jerk.

“Thanks,” Gil panted. “And you – have a new hat.” It was just as floppy as his old one with an even wider brim. The hat itself was reddish-brown with a bright shiny scarlet band. It clashed horribly and somehow fit perfectly at the same time.

“Do hyu like it? Hy vas down at de vestern border for a couple of veeks. Und now hy gots a new hat!”

“It looks good.”

Dietrich grinned his happy, overlarge smile – the one that showed off all of his teeth. (Okay, so a lot of Dietrich’s smiles show all his teeth but this one was his happy-happy smile meant for Gil, not his challenging-happy smile meant for the other jägers or his threatening-happy smile meant for enemies) “Thanks!” He glanced at the top of Gil’s head and pursed his lips. “Ve need to get hyu a hat.” Gill rolled his eyes at the well-worn statement.

“I’m fine without one.”

“No, hyu is getting older. Hyu needs a hat soes everyvun ken know how impressive hyu are.” Then without warning he took off his hat and plopped it on Gil’s head. Gil sputtered as the brim immediately flopped in his face. He pushed at it but the other side just flopped in front of him instead.

“I think it looks better on you,” he said, shoving the hat back into Dietrich’s hands. On his head the front swoops gracefully up, framing his face. How did he do that? Centuries of hat-wearing practice he supposed. Dietrich turned his head and the swoop moved with him keeping his view unimpeded. Or maybe the hat was Sparkwork and it recognized its true owner – Gil had no doubt that Dietrich was more the hat’s true owner than whomever he took it from ever was.

“Vot’s all dis?” Dietrich asked, wandering over to the flying machine

“ _This,_ ” Gil said, darting over to his side, “ is the future of balloonless air travel.”

“Dis?” Dietrich said, gesturing wildly at the machine. “Vot? _Noo_. Last hy saw dat et vas jest sketches und itty bitty models.”

“Yeah well it’s been a while since you visited." A little over three months. Not that Gil was counting. He didn’t bother to do that.

Anymore.

“Hy’m sorry about dat. De empire keeps me busy but dat’s hardly a gud excuse.”

“Whatever,” Gil muttered, turning his attention to the right wing. It’s not like Dietrich owed him anything.

“So, vhich design did you peck?”

“It’s not one you ever saw.”

“Dat jest means hyu’ll haff to tell me from de beginning.” He leaned over the wing and poked at the heating system. “Vot’s vith dese vierd engines under de vings?”

Gil slapped his hand away. Gil was mad at him. He wasn’t allowed to make Gil feel better; that was cheating damn it. “They’re not engines, they’re part of how it achieves lift. They superheat the air under the wings to provide an updraft.”

“Von’t dat set de vings on fire?”

“It won’t set the wings on fire.”

“Et sounds like et vould.”

“It _won’t_.” With a huff Gil pulled out his blueprints and started laying out exactly why the wings were safe. Which of course led to explaining the rest of the machine. Dietrich hung over the side, prodding him along and asking increasingly ridiculous questions. He clearly understood… less than most of it. But he was a jäger; he’d been in service to Heterodynes. He knew how to piece together the important parts from what he did understand. It didn’t take long for Gil to get carried away with it, grabbing Dietrich’s hand and dragging him around the flying machine, pointing out every little detail.

“Hyu should be proud ov hyuself. Vhen’s et goink to be ready?”

The jägerdraught had given Dietrich eight extra teeth. Combine that with the fact that Gil’s wisdom teeth haven’t come in yet and Dietrich officially has twelve teeth on Gil. It’d never stopped Gil from trying to outsmile him thought. It didn’t stop him now either. “It already is. Today’s going to be the first test flight.”

“Ho! Did hy ever peck a gud day to stop by. Vot does hyu poppa tink ov et?”

Like a switch had been flicked all of the warm happiness drained away. All that was left was a cold twist in the pit of his stomach. “He’s seen it even less than you have. I don’t think he even knows it exists.”

Dietrich scratched at his chin. “Dat might be for de best. Hyu poppa, he’s like hyu – Sparky. Vhen schmot guys like dat see a project dey haff to tinker vith et too. Vhich isn’t a bed ting, et ken be a gud vun eff’n hyu mesh vell vith der Spark. But not for dis, I tink. Odder projects, or efen mebee later versions ov dis vun, but dis” – he placed a surprisingly gentle hand on the body of the flying machine – “dis es hyu beby. Nobody else should touch dis. Hyu ken tell hyu poppa all abouts et later. But for now, hyu keeps et safe und all yours. Hokay?” The words made sense but Gil was in too much of a funk by now to appreciate them. Besides, Dietrich had barely stuck around for a year before getting bored with Gil and wandering off. He only remembered Gil when he thought it might be entertaining. And even knowing all that Gil still greeted him like some pathetic, overeager puppy.

“Vot hyu friends tink ov et?”

Gil scowled, not noticing the way Dietrich frowned at the sight. “They don’t know either. It might give away the game that I’m actually a Spark. Can’t have that, now can we.” He gave a bolt an aggressive twist, probably overtightening it. Great.

“Dat’s probably for the best too.” Gil rolled his eyes again as he fiddled with the bolt. He couldn’t wait to hear Dietrich try to talk around this one. “Hyu vants to impress dem vith et. Hard to be impressive vhen de vings catch on fire.”

“The wings aren’t going to catch fire!”

“Uh-huh. Prove et.”

“I _will_ prove it! As soon as the safety check’s done **I’ll prove it to everyone!”**

“Dat’s vot hy like to hear!” Dietrich cheered. He reached over and, gently grasping the bold, loosened it, passing Gil a better-sized wrench as he did. “So, es Nick still testing out hes flirting vith de keetchen maids?”

“Yes! And he’s _horrible_ at it!”

Gil ran started running through the rest of his safety check, catching Dietrich up on the recent school gossip as he went. The jäger probably didn’t care but hey, he started it by asking. Eventually, the entire checklist had been run through and double-checked. “That’s it,” Gil said, stepping back. “It’s ready for launch.”

“Und dat’s my cue to go find a gud spot.”

“A good spot? What do you mean ‘ _find_ a good spot’? You already have one right here.” Gil turned to look at Dietrich only to have him not meet his eye. “…Don’t you?”

“Vell…”

“You aren’t going to stay for the launch.”

“Et’s not dat,” Dietrich said quickly. Too quickly. Gil knew what that sounded like. “As soon as hyu take off et’s goink to attract a lots of attention. Lots of peeple gunna swarm did place. Including de Baron. So hy’m goink to vatch from von of de observation decks. Better view. Quieter.”

Gil turned back to the flying machine. It was easier that way. “You don’t have to you know. If you don’t want to bother staying around to watch you don’t have to lie about it.”

“Vot hyu talking about? Hov course hy’m goink to vatch.” When Gil didn’t say anything Dietrich grabbed his shoulders and twisted him around to face him. Gil looked down so he wouldn’t have to look at him. “Leettle Gil. Look at me.” Gil didn’t move. “Fine. Don’t look den. Jest listen. Hy’m goink to be vatching hyu flight. Hyu vouldn’t miss et for de world. Dat’s vhy hy ken’t be en de room vhen –” he trailed off for a minute. His hands tightened on Gil’s shoulders. “Hy’m not leavink hyu Leettle Gil, hy promise.”

“…just go.”

The hands dropped off his shoulders. Shuffling footsteps made their way across the room. “Deck Three.” Gil finally looked up. Dietrich was standing in the doorway. His hat was clutched in his hands rather than on his head where it belonged. “Et’s got de beegest windows. Dat’s vhere hy’ll be. Hokay?” Gil didn’t answer. Dietrich slowly put his hat back on and then left.

And Gil was alone again.

He turned back to his flying machine. The safety check was finished. It was time to see what this thing could do.

It took several minutes of pushing to get the machine where it was supposed to be for launch. This would have been easier if he’d gotten Dietrich to move it _before_ he took off. Then again, Gil hadn’t been planning on him leaving at all. Because he was an idiot like that. Once it was in place (and once Gil had caught his breath – not that he’d admit to needing to, there was no way to prove it) he settled into the cockpit and checked over his controls one last time. Everything was ready.

And here –

He –

Went!

The initial blast of air almost threw him out of his seat entirely. He scrambled upright, wind screaming around him as he fell. Fingers almost numb with chill and exhilaration skittered over the control panels searching blindly for the correct lever. Finally he closed his hand around it and pulled. There was a loud _whoosh_ accompanied with a burst of heat. He was nearly knocked out of his seat again as the machine’s descent came to a sudden stop.

And then he was flying.

He was actually flying!

A giddy, carefree laugh escaped his lips, rushing out to join the air streaming around him. He was doing it! He grabbed the other lever, pulling it back and shooting the plane upwards. The main engine kicked to life with a roar. He banked hard to the left, turning towards the wide expanse of Castle Wulfenbach’s balloon. From this angle it blocked out the blue of the sky entirely. Gil had always known it was big, but he’d never really processed just _how_ big it really was.

His father had _built_ that.

And he’d built this.

Another laugh bubbled up. He’d really done it.

Several figures had stopped in front of the windows by now. Gil threw up a jaunty salute as he finally cut off his mad charge toward the airship, turning at the last possible second. He skimmed along the edge of the balloon, close enough to touch it if he wanted. The crowd of people grew. This close he could vaguely hear their frantic yelling. Yelling and… cheering?

Who was cheering?

Gil turned his head scanning the windows until he hit Deck 3. Dietrich was plastered against the window, waving and shouting and smiling straight at him. Right where he said he’d be. Gil twisted the controls, running up the side of the airship until he was level with Deck three. Dietrich’s cheers got even louder and Gil, feeling daring and stupid and free, leaned out and brushed a hand against the window as he went. He toggled the steering back and forth to make the wings wave before turning back to the open air once again.

The sky was bluer than he could ever remember seeing it and he threw himself towards it. His flying machine worked! His first flight and it was a complete and total success! Next time he could –

And that was the exact moment both his wings caught fire.


End file.
